Harsh Vardhan slams MCI for ‘punishing’ MBBS aspirants

Union Health Minister Dr Harsh Vardhan has criticised the Medical Council of India (MCI) for “punishing” MBBS aspirants rather than medical colleges for not complying with its rules. This, he said, has led to the loss of 1,170 medical seats in the 2014-15 academic year and has harmed the careers of many students.

Vardhan said that MCI’s “adversarial” position led to the Supreme Court dismissing the Health Ministry’s plea seeking modification of the time schedule for granting approvals to new colleges and renewal of permission to existing seats in old colleges.

“Instead of supporting our plea in court, I am surprised the MCI opposed it. This makes me wonder whose side are they on,” he said.
There had been applications to raise the existing number of seats as new medical colleges were being opened and existing ones were adding seats.